(A History of Treatment for Mental Illness, The Washington Post, Unknown)

Climb Out Of Darkness 2014

1. In the article, Postpartum Depression: One Mom's Mission Becomes a Movement, a women named Katherine Stone pushed for a campaign that would inform many women who suffer or have suffered from postpartum depression about the mental illness they've had. For example, Stone made a blog about her experience with the disease and has helped many women get through their battle. She was able to raise awareness world wide about the issue. She hosted an annual "Climb Out of the Darkness" to raise money for medical treatment for the ill.

Analysis: Although a stigma attacks the work that Katherine Stone has done, she fought for the medical attention that the women needed. She was able to inspire women to seek help and cure themselves and create a foundation where she would annually raise money for research on postpartum depression.

2. "Girl Scouts Engage in the Fight Against Mental Illness Stigma with Mental Health Awareness Patch" explains many girl scouts are fighting for a change in the way mentally ill patients are treated and viewed. They are now being rewarded with a patch by doing something in their community to create awareness on mental health. For example, they are creating a library for special needs children which they have worked on for longer than a year. The project is supposed to educate everyone and eradicate the stigma.

Analysis: The girl scouts are trying to educate everyone in their communities about mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder so that everyone can understand those who are suffering the diseases. They are trying to help those who are affected by the diseases by raising the awareness to help average people know what the victims go through and to allow them to seek help.

3. The article, A History of Treatment for Mental Illness, explains how over a few centuries the way that the mentally ill receive medical attention changes and how the effort to understand each patient grows. For example, in the 19th century, mentally ill patients were forced into state psychiatric hospitals with brutal treatments. By the end of the 20th century, people started to appreciate patient's civil rights by deciding that no patient shall be seen as "dangerous" to public.

Analysis: The timeline shows how patient's medical treatment changed from cruelty to somewhat fair. They are now being understood and their civil rights are being looked at.

Counter Arguements:

"Mentally ill people shouldn't get good medical attention"

Response: They should be able to have good medical attention so they can learn to control their emotions and not be "dangerous".

"Mentally ill are dangerous and can cause danger to the public"

Response: Mentally ill people are not dangerous because if they get the correct treatment then they will not have any violent thoughts. They are not violent people but they have issues going on in their mind that may cause them to do to some harmful actions but other than that they are not a huge threat to the public.

"There is no stigma that affects the mentally ill so why should there be so much awareness."

Response: There is a lot of stigma concerning the mentally ill because many believe that they are just a threat to everyone when in reality, they are just average people with a few bugs. There should be awareness because many people have misconceptions towards them which is also part of the stigma. The victims are not understood and should have some spotlight.